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Being in large crowds always was making her feel nervous.
Being in large crowds always made her feel nervous.

Which is the correct answer?
What is the difference between them?
I am confused about them. l am sorry to say, I couldn't express my views regarding them.

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  • "Being in large crowds always made her nervous." You can simply "be" nervous, no need for "feel" unless your exercise explicitly requests it.
    – Stephie
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:27
  • The plural "crowds" sounds odd to me. Anyone else feel the same? Large crowds make me nervous is fine. But one can be in only one crowd at a time: Being in a large crowd makes me nervous. (or "...always made her feel nervous")
    – TimR
    Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 14:58

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The better variant is:

Being in large crowds always made her feel nervous.

The progressive reports an action while it's taking place at any given moment and in any tense. So if you're speaking in general terms about this woman's fear of crowds, it would not be progressive. Your sentence contains always so it's a general statement.

However, if you're describing a particular situation, you could use the progressive, because you'll be reporting the action as it's happening:

"We arrived at the fairgrounds and pushed our way through the crowed. I looked over at Anne and she was visibly uncomfortable. Being in such a large crowd was making her nervous, so I suggested we go have a drink."

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There are two aspects that are part of English grammar: the continuous and the perfect.  Other aspects are possible, but they are a part of English semantics rather than English grammar.  The grammar has a catch-all indefinite aspect construction which is used for most of these other possibilities, such as the habitual aspect, the eternal aspect, or the periodic aspect.

Your sentence uses one of these semantic aspects that fall outside of grammar.  The meaning of the word "always" suggests something like the eternal aspect.

For that suggestion to make sense, the grammar of the sentence should display the indefinite aspect.  The continuous construction is in conflict with the meaning of the word "always".

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